1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-surgical method to enhance facial form and enhance facial symmetry by using an orthodontic dental device or appliance in adults. More specifically, the present invention relates to an orthodontic device that stimulates the muscles of the face and jaws, which in turn stimulate the bone causing a remodeling or reshaping that improves facial symmetry and causes jaw development where jaw development did not occur during childhood.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Devices have been used for decades to straighten patients' teeth. Patients' teeth may not erupt optimally for a number of reasons, specifically if the jawbone did not fully develop during childhood. Thus, in an underdeveloped jaw there is not sufficient room to accommodate the patient's full set of teeth. Because there is not enough room in the jawbone for all of a patient's teeth, some of these devices first require extraction of one or more teeth to provide room in the patient's jaws for the remaining teeth, so that they may be rotated or otherwise moved into a straighter position.
One conventional device that is used to straighten the alignment of teeth is braces. Braces are used to move teeth, which causes the bone to change locally around the roots of the teeth. Braces do not, however, stimulate the muscles of the face and/or jaws, and, therefore, do not cause any change of the facial or jawbones, except for the local change of the jawbone around the roots of the teeth moved by the braces.
Another device used to straighten the alignment of teeth is a split palate orthodontic appliance such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,023 of Fisher. Split palate appliances include a split acrylic body whose two body halves are connected with an expansion screw. The acrylic body rests against the palate of the mouth when the device is placed in the upper jaw, or against the lingual surfaces of the mandible when the device is placed in the lower jaw. Because prior split palate devices contact the palate, they prevent the palate from descending as the palate is widened. T-shaped flap springs, which are also known as Fisher flap springs, are embedded in the plate body. The free edge of each spring makes contact with a selected tooth or teeth to apply a predetermined amount of pressure against that tooth. This pressure slowly causes selective orthodontic movement of the teeth. In particular, the pressure applied by the springs to the teeth slowly decreases due to changes in the palate or mandible due to the pressure. Thus, periodically (once or twice a week) the expansion screw is actuated to further spread apart the two body halves, thereby applying (or more accurately reapplying) more pressure against the respective teeth. As the jaw remodels, however, the widening is usually limited inter alia by sutural homeostasis, a regulatory mechanism that is under genetic control, and modulated in response to function.
Remodeling of bone through force can occur throughout a person's life. It is believed that the bones of some individuals do not fully develop during childhood because of a lack of sufficient stimulation. Primitive man had better-developed jaws, straighter teeth and a wider smile than his modern day descendants, because the food was very tough and a baby would eat the same food as the parents. Modern day babies are reared on soft foods so their jaws do not develop as well. On top of that, changes in feeding behavior and/or environmental pollution narrow the nasal passages of many post-industrial infants. As a result they breathe through their mouth, causing their palate to develop inward instead of outward, and leaving less room for their upper teeth. Not only does this result in crowded and crooked teeth, jaw development (or lack of it) affects the morphology of the face.
There is a direct relationship between facial development and beauty. In every culture of the world, a symmetrical face with high cheekbones, a wide smile and a strong jaw is considered beautiful. Even an infant will respond to a wide beautiful smile with even teeth. Adults also respond to a well-developed face and body as being beautiful.
In the article by Moss, “The role of mechanotransduction,” American Journal of Orthodontics Dentofacial Orthopedics, 112:8-11 (1997) there is a discussion of the “functional matrix hypothesis.” It asserts that a seamless communication takes place when mechanical forces overload the periosteum (tissues around the bone and teeth). In effect there is a combination of mechanical/biochemical communication that takes place all the way down to the individual gene-containing nucleus of the osteocytic cells, i.e., the cells that create bone and direct changes in bone. This communication directly affects the DNA of the genome within the nucleus and creates an interconnected physical chain of molecular levers that affect the periosteal functional matrix activity, which regulates the genomic activity of its strained skeletal unit bone cells, including their phenotypic expression. Thus, the theory is that the strain placed on the bone not only forces the bone to change, but it triggers the genetic encoding of the bone to cause it to continue its earlier arrested development toward a symmetrical facial appearance.
None of the prior art devices directly stimulates the muscles of the face and jaws, which in turn stimulate the bone causing a remodeling or reshaping of the facial and jawbones to improve facial symmetry.
None of the prior art devices causes the jawbones to develop where jaw development did not occur during childhood.